So, what's Team ICO working on these days? A Shadow of the Colossus sequel? A new adventure set in the Ico universe, at least? Whatever it is, a recent revamp of the team's career page on the SCEI website has fans speculating all over the place. Check out the full article for more.

The rumor mills have begun to churn out buzz again, and this latest bit is said to come from someone inside Sony Computer Entertainment. It would seem that Sony's game division is prepping for a better year this 2008, with secret projects in tow for it's next generation console, the PlayStation 3. More on that at the full story.

 

It didn't take long after word broke out that Team ICO is currently working on a sequel, as rumors of what's supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus' successor have already surfaced. According to newwhat they say, Game Informer's latest issue will reveal The Last Canyon.

Supposedly, Fumito Ueda stated his team wants to do something unique in a different setting. Instead of fighting giants in HD, players will find themselves in a gigantic desert like Death Valley in California, but with canyons of different width and depth. Unfortunately, those places aren't colossi in disguise.

The main objective is to find something while traveling around with an air glider made of wood and cloth. The ground will look flat while airborne, but you'll be doing a lot of climbing when you drop into the canyons. Flying freely around such a big and immersive environment is what's supposed to lure players in, much like the epic feeling Shadow of the Colossus provided.

No matter how good The Last Canyon sounds, we'll have to tag this under rumors. Game Informer's Andy McNamara posted on the same thread in the NeoGAF forums where the rumor originated, denying any news in the next issue. Here's what his posts contained:

This is not in the next issue of Game Informer. The new GI has something new...but its from another much-loved developer. Trust me...we'll try to get the next Team ico game....love those guys. but I wouldn't slam the door shut on the next issue yet. I think most people on this forum are fans of their work.

It's also noticeable how canyons are almost comparable to colossi if they're both the heart of the games they appear in. Also, if rumors hold true, we see the glider being as important as the horse, Agro, in Shadow of the Colossus. These seem to contradict the "unique" part, and it's possible that a fan just jotted down what Team ICO should do next.

Others believe the idea could've been spurred by Team ICO's job advertisement on Famitsu back in February, which had the image you can see on top.

It's been a while since Team ICO's Shadow of the Colossus gave Sony PlayStation 2 owners a unique experience brought about by topnotch game design and spectacular art, which was the spiritual sequel to another stand out title called ICO. We're among those who are patiently waiting for either of these two to get a sequel, but some fans took a step forward and squeezed out info from the UK Official PlayStation Magazine. There hasn't been any confirmation (concrete or otherwise), but it does seem like Team ICO is working on a sequel.

Fan group Team ICO Gamers sent out a query to OPM UK about any info pertaining to Team ICO's activities, and received an interesting reply. Here it is, verbatim:

We asked Sony boss Kaz Hirai what was going on with Team ICO a couple of months back. As he was pleading ignorance, one of the other execs present blurted out. "I'm pretty sure they're doing the sequel." Our fearless reporter immediately asked. "What, the sequel to ICO or Shadow of the Colossus?" Then the room filled with knockout gas...

Not much, eh? We did hear about Team ICO developing a new title for the PS3, but there were no details about the mysterious project. When they talk about a sequel, we can only guess that the game will be set in the same world as ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Whether we'll be seeing the horned kid or the wanderer, we're hoping to learn more about the world Team ICO has always kept under tight wraps.

 

In the comments section of a February 13 post on the Gamesblog section of UK news portal Guardian Unlimited entitled "PS3: difficult stories emerge in run up to Euro launch", an anonymous UK developer writes:

I work as a games developer, and have revealed all sorts of info on this blog. I think its all been ignored though. Readers here prefer to discuss press-releases and marketing figures. Anyway, if anyone is interested to know how serious Sony's problems are, consider this. There are virtually no PSP or PS3 games being developed in the UK.

Of course, in defense of the PSP, a quick look at upcoming PSP release dates in the UK show that there's a lot of activity leading up to mid-March. Moreover, a look at Metacritic's compiled review scores for NDS games reveal that only a handful of the top games are developed outside of Japan – something that is in stark contrast with the PSP. At least 12 of the PSP top 20 are western releases.

Kieth Stuart of Gamesblog notes that it could also be argued that when it comes to handhelds, Britain has never really been a major force.

Here's the rest of the anonymous (oddly the handle he used is "MrTummy") developer's comment:

...Nintendo had sent Wiimotes that plug into Gamecube devkits to all registered developers. Instead of forking out thousands of quid to Sony for devkits that they still weren't releasing, studios were coming up with innovative Wii ideas. Instead of training coders to program the world's most complicated Cell processor, the Gamecube team just switched to the Wii.

People can believe what they want. You can trawl the web for lists of PSP or PS3 games to get excited about. The truth is that the development community is already abandoning Sony's products, just as happened in the past to the Saturn, N64, Dreamcast, GC... All that'll be propping-up the PS3 and PSP a year from now will be some sad sports and movie fodder.

Given that Team Ico of Shadow of the Colossus fame has just announced that they're working on a PS3 project, we're pretty sure that you folks have a lot to say to MrTummy.

 

CVG reports that the latest issue of Famitsu has revealed that Team Ico, the people behind Shadow of the Colossus, is currently working on a new title for the Sony PS3.

While the said Famitsu issue didn't have any further details regarding Team Ico's new project, the team's track record has us pretty stoked to see what they come up with next. On a more personal note, I hope it's not as sad as Shadow of the Colossus turned out to be. I mean, come on, it wasn't as if they were attacking some town or anything. Yeah, alright, you were supposed to be doing it for your girl but still, I actually felt sad each time one of those behemoths toppled to the ground.

Anyway, we'll be keeping an eye out for any Team Ico-related news. If all goes well, more details will surface before the year is out.